Infinity War

[owlmoose]

I saw it. I'm still deciding how I felt about it.

Spoilers, lots and lots of spoilers.

There's a lot that impressed me. I thought breaking the various teams up into different groups tackling the problem of Thanos in different ways was super effective. Just like in Civil War but more so, I thought the Russos did an excellent job of balancing the sheer number of characters with comprehensible storytelling and giving out some mini-arcs. I appreciate that they didn't belabor any of the existing connections or characterizations, instead just taking everything as read. I also felt that, for the most part, they built and developed the newer relationships in appropriate ways (Stark and Strange for example, and Wanda and Vision's romance; the exception is Thanos and Gamora, which felt rushed and out of character with Gamora's previous appearances, especially given the weight that it had to carry in the narrative). The battles were appropriately epic, if a little over CGI'd in places, and for a movie with such a serious overall tone it had just enough moments of lightness and humor to keep it from getting too ponderous.

But the ending. I am so unsettled and unsatisfied by the ending that it throws my entire opinion of the movie up in the air. Because in the end, the bad guy wins. It's not a mixed outcome or a Pyrrhic victory for our heroes. They flat out lose. Thanos succeeds in wiping out half the population of the universe, including all of the newer Avengers except for Rhodey. And... that's where the movie ends. Only the slightest glimmers of hope: Strange telling Tony that "this was the only way" as he vanishes, and Nick Fury signaling Captain Marvel mere seconds before he, too, is erased from existence. It's so bleak, and so out of character for a superhero movie, that I wasn't sure how to take it. I'm still not sure how to take it.

And yet, it is completely obvious that the death of most of the team isn't going to be permanent. Because two of the disappeared heroes are Spider-Man and Black Panther, and they're both confirmed for later movies in the franchise. So we know for an absolute fact that this horror will somehow be undone, and I almost feel like they're insulting our intelligence by leaving us on this particular cliffhanger. I hate this idea that death is rarely permanent, that actions and decisions never have long-term consequences that can't be somehow undone; so far, the MCU has been relatively good at sidestepping this trope, so common to superhero comics, so to have it blasted in my face here leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I don't want to leave the impression that I hated the movie. I didn't, at all, although I'm pretty annoyed that the one death that seems most likely to be permanent is Gamora's. (Good job, MCU, killing off the one long-standing comics character played by a woman of color that isn't a Wakandan. I mean, really?) It's certainly better than the last Avengers movie, and several of the other MCU films. But when the end of a movie is my least favorite part, it's hard for that not to color my overall impressions. I'll probably have to keep sitting with it, talking to people, and ultimately seeing how it all plays out in Part 2. (I almost wish they HAD just slapped a "to be continued" on the screen after the last scene. It would have felt more intellectually honest.)

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hey

[worlds_of_smoke]

I didn't like the ending either, but I knew that it would be a bummer ending. In a way, it was a tiny bit refreshing, just because it was a change of pace from heroes winning all the time. I just didn't expect it to be such a dark ending.

[owlmoose]

I've been thinking about this quite a bit, and for me it comes down to a violation of genre expectations. In a superhero movie, the heroes save the day. It might not be a complete victory, and there may have been some heartbreaking sacrifice to get there, but in the end it still feels like a win. It reminds me of the debate regarding whether a romance novel needs to end with a "happily ever after". You can write a wonderful story about a romantic relationship, but if it doesn't have a HOA (or at least a "happily for now") ending, it's not a romance novel. Similarly, by not giving us a victory, and by leaving the surviving characters in utter despair, this ending violates the norms of the superhero genre. And I suppose that's not inherently wrong, but it leaves me feeling unsatisfied.

[worlds_of_smoke]

That makes total sense.

The fact that this is not, in and of itself, the complete storyline helps me. I just keep reminding myself that this was always intended to be Part 1 of the Infinity War storyline. The studio just decided to change the titles from "Infinity War, part 1" and "Infinity War, part 2" to "Infinity War" and "As of yet unannounced A4".

[owlmoose]

I agree that it's clearly a part 1 (no matter what the Russos say) and if they had marketed it that way, I would feel better about it, but I think even still I'd be left unsettled. T compared it to the ending of The Empire Strikes Back, but that movie leaves the characters in a much less bleak spot. They have a plan; they have hope. For me, this more like if ESB had ended with Luke letting go of that spire and falling into the abyss.

[worlds_of_smoke]

Yeah, I'm really not sure why they chose to rename them from the original names. I mean, not everyone keeps up with the filming/development news. Leaving it Part 1 and Part 2 would -- comfort? I think that's the word I want -- all the fans, not just the ubergeeks that keep up with filming/development news and knew that, even with the rename of the movies, A3 and A4 were always Part 1 and Part 2 of the story. I know that I found some comfort in the fact that I know that Part 2 is going to fix the clusterfuck.

(Though I'm still very frustrated that they dusted T'Challa. Why the fuck did you go there, Russos???)

It's hiding something that should be very clear and has not changed. You can give A3 and A4 whatever names you want, but the Russos have been very clear that the two movies are absolutely Part 1 and Part 2 of the story. And they should've kept marketed that way, IMO.

I've seen a lot of comparisons to Empire. I haven't seen Empire in probably 20 years, since I'm not a SW fan at all. But from what I can remember, I can see why they're making that comparison.

[escritoireazul]

I think the lack of a "to be continued" is part of what annoys me most about that ending. I could have sworn this wasn't supposed to be a story split into two parts, based on things I read a while back, but that is exactly what this movie felt like. Part One and Part Two would have made far more sense to me. (It's very possible that I misread the thing I read awhile back, but that is how I went into this movie.)

[owlmoose]

You aren't wrong -- that's definitely the expectation I had, too. Originally, Avengers 3 and Avengers 4 were going to be Infinity War Part One and Part Two. Then the Russos announced that the name of Avengers 4 was going to be changed, and they gave the distinct impression that the two movies would tell separate, self-contined stories. So I also went into the theater expecting that the battle with Thanos was going to be wrapped up by the end; I'm sure I would feel much differently about it if I had known that it was still really a Part One.

[lassarina]

Something my husband said as we were leaving the theatre is that he would've felt cheated if the heroes did win, after all the buildup Thanos got--but I agree that a straight "to be continued" would've been better.